


an honest man

by shanlyrical



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Developing Relationship, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-05 00:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18354515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shanlyrical/pseuds/shanlyrical
Summary: A late-night conversation leads to mutual admiration and quite possibly something more.





	an honest man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smaragdbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/gifts).



“Hey, how you holding up, kid?”

Although it was deep into the medical frigate’s onboard sleep cycle, the kid in question – Luke Skywalker, his name was – appeared to be wide awake and engrossed in a datapad.

Luke looked up from his datapad and favored Lando with a bright, guileless smile. That smile made him look more like the sunny moisture farm boy he’d been and less like the battle-hardened Rebel Commander and aspiring Jedi Knight he was now. Leia had already explained Luke’s history to him, at least in the broad strokes, but even so Lando was surprised by how very, very _young_ he looked.

“I’m fine. Thank you for asking,” Luke said. “The med droids want to keep me under observation for a little while longer, but that’s just standard post-operation procedure. Presuming my body doesn’t show any signs of rejecting the prosthesis” – Luke waved his right hand in the air to demonstrate – “I’ll be free to go, good as new!”

One of Lando’s eyebrows quirked upwards speculatively. He approached the bed upon which Luke was reclining, neatly side-stepping the tangle of beeping, blinking diagnostic devices surrounding Luke as he did so. “You really are taking the loss of your hand incredibly well. I know a lot of tough guys who’d be weeping into their cantina cups for months afterwards.”

Luke merely shrugged. “I’m not going to get hung up on things that are over and done with. I want to focus on the things I can control.”

“It’s very impressive,” Lando said. He meant it; he was impressed. “In fact…” A glance at Luke’s datapad screen interrupted Lando’s train of thought, and he forgot what he was going to say next. Luke had been reading a dense, technical piece on Tibanna gas mining on Bespin. “Some light reading you got there, I see?” he couldn’t resist asking.

“Oh, this? Yeah, it’s fascinating. I had no idea how important a natural resource Tibanna gas is and how sophisticated the operation to extract it has to be. No wonder Cloud City has become so prosperous.”’

Hmm, so he was intelligent and naturally curious? Both were excellent traits in young men aiming to grow up to be wise leaders. Lando was impressed again.

But of course, his ego had not deserted him. Cloud City’s Baron Administrator – Baron Administrator on an indefinite, forced leave of absence, rather, though he wasn’t yet quite ready to admit it – puffed up with pride at Luke’s words. “Bespin used to be just another remote mining outpost. I was the one who made it a premier luxury destination! The sunlight on the clouds is a sight to die for—”

Oopsie. Lando’s speech cut off abruptly as he recalled that Luke may have seen enough of those clouds while dangling out there on a weathervane to last him a lifetime already. Lando cast his eyes downward and shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Well, I mean, you know…”

If Luke noticed his discomfort, he had the grace not to acknowledge it directly. “The city was beautiful, at least the parts that I saw,” he said with another of his patented, guileless smiles. “You must’ve worked wonders. I wish I could have stayed longer.”

“Flattery will get you far,” Lando announced, the habit of bravura showmanship returning to him automatically under the smallest amount of pressure. “Your next Cloud City holiday is on me, all expenses paid! I just need to well, you know…” _Take back control of my city from the Empire_ , he didn’t say. Good grief, this was awkward! Why did he seem to keep stumbling into landmines with this kid…?!

“I don’t blame you for what happened, you know,” Luke said, interrupting Lando’s self-flagellation. “Vader had come, making his threats, and I was just a name to you. You were only trying to protect the people you cared about, the people you felt responsibility for. I would’ve done the same in your position.”

Lando blinked. The kid seemed wise beyond his years. No dumb blond, this one! His respect for Luke seemed to keep increasing and increasing and increasing.

“And more importantly,” Luke continued, “once you realized that Vader would not honor his deal, you admitted that you’d been wrong to trust him and have been trying ever since to make amends. There are many who would not have done so much. It’s the mark of a good man. An honest man.”

An honest man, huh? Not a phrase often used in conjunction with the name Lando Calrissian…not without irony, anyway. Lando realized he didn’t dislike it when it came from Luke.

“Did Han ever tell you anything about me?” Lando asked. Luke shook his head. “Well, I’m not exactly famous for my honest dealings, and…” There were a lot of things in his past he wasn’t exactly proud of, and he felt ashamed. “Well, in the past I—”

“ _No_.” Luke cut him off. Those big blue eyes of his were serious and glowing with sincerity. “The past isn’t all we are. It’s not our destiny, not if we don’t want it to be.”

Huh. Those were some deep thoughts for a kid! Lando wondered what might have brought them on but decided not to ask. He resolved to be thankful instead – and to try to be that honest man for Luke. “Han never made friends easily, you know. Oh, he was _friendly_ with a lot of people, but that was different. He always kept them at a distance. I think I can see what he saw in you. We’ll get him back from Jabba, you’ll see. If we work together, we can do it.”

“I have every confidence in you,” Luke said, which was more confidence than Lando had in himself, to be honest. Which he usually wasn’t, but new leaf, right? Luke chuckled ruefully. “I’m not looking forward to going back to Tatooine, though. I hope you’re serious about the holiday on Bespin. I may need it after Tatooine!”

Lando laughed at that, and Luke’s chuckles became belly laughs. They laughed together until they were gasping for breath and tears were seeping from the corners of their eyes. “Of course. Would I lie to you? I’m an honest man, remember?” Lando declared.

“Ah, good. And I…I hope…I hope you’ll be there with me.” Luke flushed crimson all of a sudden, his fair skin making the blush impossible to hide.

Hmm, what do you know? He found Lando attractive. How unexpected! But Lando had to admit that the kid was pretty darn easy on the eyes himself, and Luke didn’t seem like the type who’d want to play around in the bedroom without strings attached…

You never did know. Perhaps Luke Skywalker would also make Lando Calrissian an honest man in _that_ particular regard.


End file.
